Les Galettes du Roi

So Friday, January 6th was Epiphany, the Christian holiday which in the Western Christian tradition celebrates the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus and thus the revelation of God as Son to the Gentiles (apparently in the Eastern Christian tradition they celebrate his baptism in the Jordan River on this day).

In any event, it is celebrated in France with the eating of galettes des rois or "kings' cakes." These kings' cakes in no way resemble the ones you can sometimes purchase at bakeries in the U.S. around Mardi Gras. They look more like giant turnovers, honestly. But they're very delicious. Inside each galette is a fève, a small ceramic or plastic figurine. The person who receives the slice of galette with the fève inside is the king or queen for the day. This picture below is a galette comtoise that my friend Justine made for the crêpe/galette party she hosted on Thursday. It was delicious!

Each region of France has its own spin on the galette des rois, the Franche-Comté version is sort of like flan on the inside (see picture below).

The other type of galette des rois I have tried is the galette traditionnelle, which has a frangipane filling (almond-flavored). Colin's mom made a galette traditionnelle on Thursday and Colin graciously shared some with me (although he was probably tempted to not to tell me about it, he doesn't really like sweets but apparently galette traditionnelle is one of his absolute favorites). I have to say I prefer the galette traditionnelle to the franc-comtoise, because I find the latter a little dry. The picture below is of a slice of galette traditionnelle:

In the south, particularly Provence, they make a doughnut-shaped brioche galette which is decorated with candied fruits. Even though technically the galettes are eaten on Ephiphany, it's more like a two-week season of galettes. They're still being sold in boulangeries and I wouldn't be surprised if someone brought one into school this week. Below is a picture of one of the galettes from the south:

Brooke and I bought a galette franc-comtois right before she returned to Vienna and she got the fève! And I received the slice with the fève in the galette franc-comtois that Justine made. I've also seen chocolate-pear filled galettes and chocolate-apple filled galettes advertised at a bakery chain called La Brioche Dorée, so it's possible that there are many other types of galettes I have yet to try. I'm definitely going to ask for Colin's mom's recipe, it would be a fun treat to make when I come home!